by Helen Martin
Whether you sell bird seed, real estate, art or something else altogether, well-known local photographer Victoria
Logan has been hard at it, working on a massive self-devised project designed to put you all on the map at no cost to you. In summary, Victoria has posted a photograph and brief account of each individual business in Kaukapakapa, Helensville, Parakai and South Head on our community Facebook pages and is already getting feedback that people have scored jobs from her posts. Generously, she is happy to give businesses the digital files of her photos to use as they wish.
Our community is small, and businesses are struggling as a result of the lockdown. The project was conceived, Victoria says, when she realised that promises to shop locally after the pandemic were being forgotten, as people went shopping out of town or online. With time on her hands, because her business Stellanova Photography was in lockdown, she decided to do something positive about it. “At first everybody was swearing they were
Victoria and Van
going to support the local community and then as people settled into it and our cases were low, I noticed on Facebook people talking about stuff they were buying out of the area. It’s not up to me to tell people what to do, but on a social media platform I can remind them what we’ve got here by putting faces to business names. With each photo I take I write a short description that includes contact details like phone numbers, FB pages and websites.”
Accompanied by her trusty Eclectus parrot Van (short for Vandal), Victoria has worked to photograph around five businesses a day. “I’ve been encouraging people who want to be part of it to message me and book a slot, and I also cold call when I’m out shopping,” she says. “It’s been huge, and it’s made me realise just how many businesses there are here. It will end for me when I’ve recorded every business in the area.”
Van, a very smart bird who has his own Facebook page, is always a welcome icebreaker, a role he relishes on the photo shoots and also in Victoria’s other voluntary work with Bark NZ, where children in schools learn how to interact with dogs, and with Dog Abled, where he is the first bird in New Zealand to take part in sessions designed to help university students new to hostel life relax and get to know each other.
If you haven’t yet been included in Victoria’s community project, message her through Facebook or call her on 0221914254.
You can find the posts on her Facebook page, and in support of this fantastic local initiative, Helensville Community News is giving Victoria’s record a permanent home on our websitehttps://helensvillecommunitynews.co.nz/
